Re: [-empyre-] Documenta reviews

[Lucas Bambozzi <lbambozzi@comum.com>]

I started to notice groups of Chinese people after I was invited to 
eat with a couple of them at their camp. I was impressed how they 
brought everything from china, including potatoes. honestly, it was 
the most interesting experience I had in Kassel (sure, like many 
other "works" it demanded a proper introduction, a willingness to 
seek further explanations, as if there was always something missing). 
but the interesting thing from my point of view was to notice that 
the city was not prepared to afford all those Chinese, as they were 
not tourists, neither costumers. most of them could not afford 
shopping. they did not belong to the art circuit, as they were not 
skilled spectators, not artists. this was good. Wei wei's work spread 
out like a virus, far beyond the empty chairs (that should be exactly 
for them, sometimes postioned to the garden, not to the exhibition 
itself). as a commissioned work it brought a bit of real 
displacement, a sense of the side effects that the art system very 
often produce.
just my humble cents, on this expensive exhibiton.
lucas.



At 19:06 +0100 10/7/07, Christina McPhee wrote:
> patrick,
>
>
> To be frank I didn't notice groups of Chinese people.  I was there 
> for the several preview days and left on the afternoon of opening 
> day. I wll be going back next week for the magazine conference.
>
> What was strange though were Wei Wei's conglomerations of antique 
> Chinese chairs.  Grouped elegantly and anonymously in the midst of
> what sort of seemed like installations of other art.  Boundaries 
> completely fluid, differentiation between different 'works' 
> seemingly treated as unimportant.
>
> Unfortunately throughout the Aue Pavilion and the Neue Gallerie, 
> there seemed to be no places to actually sit when exhausted, to wait 
> for someone, etc.
>
> THe Chinese chairs intensified an atmosphere of uncanny oppression 
> -- so few human-scaled accomodations (architecturally) to the needs 
> of visitiors, so many strange gestures.
>
> Could you sit on the chairs ? or not?  no one was.
>
> christina
>
> On Jul 10, 2007, at 9:45 AM, Patrick W. Deegan wrote:
>
> > for anyone else there witnessing D12, i would be deeply interested 
> > in firsthand reactions, assessments, news, or lack of any of these 
> > things regarding Ai Weiwei's "importation" of 1001 Chinese to 
> > Germany for one part of his ouevre there.
> > thanks!
> > -pwdeegan
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